The JK Buzz 6.16.2011, in this edition...

OS X 10.7 Lion: More Lion features announced, Mac App Store: The new Lion's Den, Lion's system requirements, Rosetta apps take a bow

Mac OS X: Security Update 2011-003 tackles MacDefender Trojans, Slow Mac after installing Security Update 2011-003?, Hanging around at the Mac App Store, Kernel panics with older Macs connected to newer Airports

Macintosh Miscellaneous: MacBook losing it's sole?, PCI-E graphics cards interchangeability

OS X 10.7 Lion

More Lion features announced

Many more details about Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) were unveiled at WWDC on June 6th. Newly disclosed noteworthy features include:

• Lion creates a recovery partition on your Mac's boot drive, which can be used to startup in emergences to repair the disk, reset passwords, or reinstall the OS
• The boot volume is encrypted using Lion's File Vault 2 technology, which is baked into the OS to protect the entire disk and not just home folders
• Lion supports document versioning (saving snapshots while files are being edited), fully integrated with Time Machine

Mac App Store: The new Lion's Den

Lion will go on sale "in July" for $29.99, and will be available as a 4GB download through the Mac App Store. This means (unless Apple announces otherwise) the only way to upgrade to Lion will be to first have Snow Leopard installed, then log into the Mac App Store with an Apple ID to make the purchase.

Lion Server will also go on sale in July for $49.99, and will be available as a download through the Mac App Store after upgrading to Lion. Apple has not made it clear if you must first install Lion and then install Lion Server, or if the Lion Server upgrade can be made on an existing Snow Leopard server via the Mac App Store.

Of course requiring users to purchase and install Lion (and Lion Server) via the Mac App Store is going to cause all sorts of logistic issues for schools and corporations, and will complicate OS installs from scratch. The massive download size will also prove challenging for those without fast broadband connections. Surely Apple will include a stand alone Lion install disc with new Macs, but the future of a retail stand alone Lion installer is unknown at this point.

Lion's system requirements

According to Apple, Macs must be running Snow Leopard before upgrading to Lion. Lion also requires at least 2GB of RAM, and 10GB free space on the boot volume.

Lion will only run in Intel-based Macs with a Core 2 Due, Xeon, or Core i3/i5/i7 processor. This means a lot of older Intel-based Macs cannot run Lion, including first generation iMacs, MacBooks/MacBook Pros/Mac minis with Core Duo or Core Solo processors.

Rosetta apps take a bow

As previously mentioned in the JK Buzz, Lion will be dropping support for Rosetta. This means that older applications written specifically for PowerPC based Macs won't run under Lion.

This site provides a list of all still commonly used apps that require Rosetta. Highlights are: Quicken (all versions), Retrospect 6, Palm Desktop (all versions), Now Contact (all versions), AppleWorks (all versions), Adobe Creative Suite CS1/CS2, QuarkXPress 6.5 and earlier, Microsoft Office 2004 and earlier, Toast 6 and earlier, and FileMaker 7 and earlier.

Mac OS X

Security Update 2011-003 tackles MacDefender Trojans

In response of the recent wave of MacDefender Trojan variants that have been tricking unsuspecting Mac users into installing malware (see The JK Buzz 5.18.2011), Apple has released a Security Update 2011-003 for Snow Leopard.

This security update enhances Snow Leopard's XProtect feature, adding an "Automatically update safe downloads list" option to the Security system preference pane. This feature checks for new XProtect malware definitions daily, and automatically updates the definitions when they become available.

Slow Mac after installing Security Update 2011-003?

In addition to enhancing XProtect, the Security Update 2011-003 will also scan the Mac's entire drive, looking for and removing any previously installed Trojans. This one time scanning process should take less than 5 minutes after installing the security update and rebooting, and the user will be informed if anything was removed.

In rare cases, it has been reported that this scanning process hangs, therefore causing the Mac to run slow. When this occurs, a process named MRT will show in the Activity Monitor consuming a lot of CPU activity. Rebooting the Mac will not cure this issue, as the MRT (Malware Removal Tool) process will start up again, trying to complete it's one time scan. The confirmed fix for this problem is to run AppleJack (it can be caused by damaged directories, messed up permissions, or corrupt cache files).

Hanging around at the Mac App Store

If you are having problems accessing Snow Leopard's Mac App Store, where it hangs with a spinning beach ball, make sure you haven't disabled Spotlight.

Spotlight can be disabled using a variety of shareware tools like Spotless and TinkerTook, or via the command line. Spotlight can also be disabled by adding the entire boot volume to the Privacy list in the Spotlight System Preference pane. The Mac App Store uses Spotlight to search the Applications folder to determine what is installed, and it'll hang when attempting to do so if you've disabled it.

Another reported cause for Mac App Store hangs is having Certificate Revocation List enabled in Keychain Access (Keychain Access->Preferences->Certificates). This is disabled by default.

Kernel panics with older Macs connected to newer Airports

If you attempt to connect a Mac running Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4.11) to a newer Dual Band Airport Extreme base station, it will likely experience kernel panics. This is a known issue, and the only workaround is to configure the AirPort base station to broadcast both a 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz network, and have Macs running Tiger only connect to the 2.4 GHz network.

To do this, open Airport Utility, choose Manual Setup, select Wireless->Wireless Network Options, check the box for "5 GHz Network Name" and type in a unique name for the 5 GHz network. After updating the base station, newer Macs should connect to the 5 GHz network name, and Macs running Tiger should connect to the 2.4 GHz network name (both will have the same password).

Macintosh Miscellaneous

MacBook losing it's sole?

MacBooks shipped between October 2009 and April 2011 may exhibit a problem where the rubber surface may separate from the bottom case.

Apple has announced a MacBook Bottom Case Replacement Program to address this issue, where Apple will replace the bottom case of any affected MacBook free of charge.

MacBook Bottom Cases can be replaced at any Apple store, by Apple Authorized Service Providers, or you can even order a self-service replacement kit. http://www.apple.com/support/macbook-bottomcase/

PCI-E graphics cards interchangeability

All Mac Pros have PCI-E (PCI Express) slots, as do later model 2005 G5 towers. The installed PCI-E graphic cards typically won't work however if swapped between different Mac models. For example, of the four graphic card options for 2008 Mac Pros, only one will work in a 2009 Mac Pro, and none will work in a 2010 Mac Pro.

To address this confusion, Apple has posted a KnowledgeBase article listing which PCI-E graphic cards will work in each Mac.